The Happiest Day of Her Life Ch. 08

Previously, in this series, a young woman witnessed the murder of her husband on their wedding day before she was violently raped. The woman, Marie Stevens Melar, was an Emergency Department nurse and used her training to get through traumatic experiences to push all thoughts of grief to the back of her subconscious. She had gone through the motions, but not allowed herself to grieve. She lived in a house on Long Island's south shore with her sister, Jenn Stevens, and Jenn's betrothed, Chloe Drasher. Marie identified her attackers and testified against them in court. Marie had a few scars, one from the night of her rape when she was nearly stabbed to death; one from a gunshot wound to her shoulder. Marie had a support system in place: her housemates, her parents, Catherine and Harry (who, secretly, are into bondage), her brother-in-law, Frank (who, not so secretly, has a crush on her), her judge friend, Holly (who may or may not have raped Marie in the process of comforting her) and several nurses with whom Marie had slept. Kevin, Marie's therapist, had noticed that Marie finally seemed ready to begin the grieving process she has denied for so long. Chloe had been hit by a driver who was texting. Frank flew up to see Chloe. Jenn stayed in the hospital room with Chloe. Marie had given notice and was working her final days at the hospital. She was crying, naked, in her room. She was interrupted by Frank, who was also naked.

Thank you very much for the votes and comments on the previous chapters. The wonderful thing about writing about a person denying their grief is that you can incorporate comments into later chapters. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the series in this way. Please feel free to give polite constructive criticism. I'm happy to answer questions, except about what's coming next. I do, eventually, read all the comments and often respond to them. So you are welcome to ask questions or, politely, tell me what I'm doing wrong. I am flabbergasted whenever Literotica authors I like read my pitiful prose. As this has happened a few times, I'm in a very happy place.

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Marie was shocked to see Frank standing in front of her. Her breasts were exposed enough to show her erect nipples. Her bed covers shielded the view of everything below that. Frank's hand was on her shoulder and her eyes followed his arm back to his body. His naked body and his semi-erect cock were right freaking there. Frank looked very much like Trent, Marie's late husband. Frank had always been a slightly younger looking "twin". Frank was actually a few months younger than Marie. In the time since Trent's murder, Frank had aged to look exactly as his brother did before his untimely death. Maybe not exactly. Frank definitely was tanner. Marie had never seen Trent naked. She imagined the sight before her was roughly what the experience would have been like. There was a strange mixture of emotions. This moment in time was awkward, yet sexy.

"What are you doing in my room?" Marie asked quietly. Her body was still shaking from her tears. It had a marvelous effect on her pert breasts; something which was not lost on Frank.

"I heard you crying," said Frank plainly, "and I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine as frog's hair," said Marie.

"You're fine as what?" asked Frank, not understanding the expression. Neither person made any attempt to cover themselves. This did not go unnoticed by either person.

"Oh," said Marie, "we once had a resident from the south who used to use that phrase. I guess I picked it up."

Frank said, "You can put it back down. It sounds very weird when you say it."

Marie's crying had quieted. She smiled, slightly, and said, "Not so weird to make me unattractive, I trust? Your little friend has grown about an inch since I said it."

"Yeah," said Frank sheepishly. "My 'little friend' reacted to you saying that you were 'fine.' He agrees. Is this making you uncomfortable?"

"No," Marie said softly. "I see naked men every single day. I'm not uncomfortable looking at a penis."

"I'm guessing you see naked women everyday, too?" asked Frank.

"Of course."

"I should have been a nurse," Frank said.

"You wouldn't be able to handle the stress of my job," said Marie. "By the way, what do you do for a living?"

"I live off my inheritance and my investments," replied Frank.

"That's not a job," said Marie. "I do that, too. I've invested my inheritance money and increased my portfolio, but it's not a job."

"Well, it's as close to a job as I ever wanted to have," said Frank. "You're not crying anymore. Are you feeling better?"

"A little," admitted Marie. "Thank you." She wasn't completely relaxed but her tears were gone and that was something.

"Do you want a hug?" asked Frank.

"I don't think I'm ready for that yet," said Marie. "I'd probably have a flashback and beat you to a pulp if you got too close to me right now. If you want, though, you could sit down and we could keep talking..."

Frank did want to. He sat respectfully at the foot of the bed and they spoke casually for another hour. Neither made any attempts to cover their nudity until Marie did so instinctively when she felt cold. They shook hands since Frank did not want to be slapped (or worse) if he attempted a kiss, and said goodnight to each other. The experience, oddly enough, was not a sexual one and neither in-law masturbated that night.

Marie got up much earlier than Frank did. He did not wake up until long after Marie went to work for the day. She went through her normal routine and walked briskly to Traci's new room to check on her before morning report. Traci was still alive. She was moved to the sub-acute section of the ED. She was no longer in Marie's section. Marie got report from the night nurse and then went back to check on Traci.

Traci did much better Saturday than she had Friday. She stayed conscious longer and she was speaking well. Her sats only went down once and she never fully coded. Marie was able to visit Traci several times during the day. Saturday was unusually slow. A slow Saturday in an Emergency Department could only mean one thing: Sunday was going to suck balls. The only thing one could do on a slow ED day was enjoy it for as long as it lasted. Marie, therefore, chose to check on Traci.

At one point, Marie went in to check up on Traci and found her crying. This set off Marie. She hugged Traci and dissolved into a blubbering mess. Mike, one of the ED Techs, was going to step in and stop the crying women. Another Tech, Jessie, grabbed Mike before he could enter Traci's room.

"Um, uh, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Jessie asked Mike.

Defensively, Mike answered, "They're crying. I'm just going to get them to stop."

No words were spoken for several minutes as the women hugged and sobbed. Eventually, Marie's tears stopped and Traci also stopped crying. Earlier, Marie had found the card for Detective Rodrigues and after their shared cry, she gave it to Traci. The rest of Marie's shift was relatively easy. She assaulted herself with questions of what she should do next. Should she tell her friends she'd quit? Should she stay overnight at the hospital to avoid seeing Frank? Should she give Traci her number? Should she avoid visiting Jenn and Chloe? In the end, she chose to answer all of these questions with a "no".

After giving report to the night nurse, Marie spent three minutes visiting Traci. They did not cry this time. Instead, they sat in quiet conversation. Marie kept it short. She could see Traci was facing her issues and would need her space. Marie went up to the Medical/Surgical Unit.

Upon entering Chloe's room, Marie saw Chloe and Jenn in the bed together laughing hard, to the point of tears. Both Chloe and Jenn were wearing hospital gowns. Neither woman seemed to notice Marie's entrance.

She asked them, "What are you two up to?"

"Not much," said Jenn, still laughing. "We just had a friendly little bet."

"What kind of bet?" asked Marie with some mixture of dread and curiosity.

"Nothing huge," said Jenn. "Chloe bet me I wouldn't walk all the way around the Med/Surg Unit."

"That's all?" inquired Marie.

"Well, no," said Chloe. "She had to do it wearing a hospital gown; and nothing else."

That cooled the fire in Marie's eyes. It was true. She had one final 12 hour shift ahead of her and then she would no longer be employed there. It really didn't matter, ultimately, what people thought of her. Marie envisioned all the weekend staff taking the time to admire Jenn's heart-shaped ass. Marie began to laugh at the thought but the laughs soon turned to tears. Marie really didn't know why she was crying. She just was. She was sobbing uncontrollably and had no clue what set her off.

Jenn and Chloe let Marie have her tears. They did not try to comfort her or quiet her in any way. Any release at this point, they knew, was a good thing. When Marie eventually stopped crying, Chloe spoke about something completely different.

"The police were here today," said the recovering redhead.

"Oh, God," said Marie. "What else have you two been up to?"

"No, no," said Jenn. "They were here to question her about the accident."

"They were very nice," said Chloe.

"I didn't think so," Jenn said.

"Ha! I guess you didn't," said Chloe, "but that was only because they tried to kick you out."

"So what did the cops say?" asked Marie when it looked as if the two gorgeous women were more interested in making out than continuing the story.

"They were amazed at how much detail my baby was able to give them," Jenn said proudly.

"Which only proves that they don't know her," said Marie with a bigger smile than she'd let live on her face for a very long time.

"Aww," said Chloe. "Don't make me blush. It's probably not good for me. Well, I told them everything I could remember and they jotted it down in their little notebooks. I'm pretty sure the taller cop was just drawing a horse in his notebook, though. They said they would check on what I told them and see if they got any leads. I thanked them. I am getting a major case of cabin fever here, Ree."

"What do you want me to do, C? I'm not your nurse anymore."

Chloe smiled and said, "You're always my nurse."

Marie's brow wrinkled for a few seconds and then she said, "Give me a couple of minutes."

She walked out of the room without another word. Chloe and Jenn waited, looking at the door, wondering what the raven haired nurse was up to. When Marie came back in the room she was not alone. Marie was pushing a wheelchair. She placed it, with the seat facing the door of the room, at the foot of the bed. Two nurses walked in behind Marie. One was holding what looked like a small, blue, cargo net or the sling of a hammock. The other nurse was pushing a machine that looked a lot like a small crane.

Chloe asked, "What the hell is all this?"

"This is a Hoyer lift, my dear," said Marie as she walked to the side of Chloe's bed closest to the window.

The nurse holding the blue sling stepped to the other side of Chloe's bed.

"Jenn, you need to stand up for a minute," said Marie. After Jenn complied, Marie looked sweetly at Chloe and said, "We're going to log roll you. Are you ready?" Chloe nodded and Marie counted out a slow, "One... Two... Three!"

With skilled hands at Chloe's shoulder and hip, the one's furthest away from Marie, Marie rolled Chloe on to her side so that she was facing Marie. The other nurse stuffed the blue sling under Chloe and Chloe was then rolled on to her other side, facing that nurse. Marie tugged on the sling and then Chloe was rolled on to her back. The third nurse moved the machine up to Chloe's bed.

The nurse who had brought the sling asked, "What are you going with, Marie? Blue and black?"

Marie said, "I was actually thinking of using blue and purple."

Chloe, having no idea what the nurses were talking about, looked at Marie. Marie was hooking loops from the sling on to hooks on the Hoyer lift. The loops closest to Chloe's shoulders were colored blue. There had been other choices of colored loops on each strand. The loops closest to Chloe's knees, as predicted, were purple.

Marie asked, "Are you ready?"

Chloe asked in reply, "Am I ready for what?"

"The ride of your life," said Marie.

Marie nodded and the third nurse pressed a button on the machine. The crane arm on the Hoyer lift raised. Eventually the arm was high enough to lift the sling that Chloe was riding on. She was pulled off the bed and began to swing slightly. Marie raised her hand and stopped the sling from swinging. The other two nurses moved the Hoyer lift so that Chloe and the sling moved towards the wheelchair. The sling was turned and the crane arm descended slowly. The three nurses turned Chloe and she realized she was in a seated position in the sling and about to sit in the wheelchair. She dropped lower and lower until she stopped. She was sitting in the wheelchair and, other than a little soreness, it didn't hurt. Marie unhooked the loops from the hooks and covered Chloe's legs with a blanket.

Marie made an elaborate two handed gesture to Jenn indicating that she should push Chloe's wheelchair. The third nurse opened the door to the room and brought the Hoyer lift out. Jenn was about to follow with Chloe and her wheelchair, but the doorway was suddenly blocked by a very tall and imposing looking woman with blonde hair in a ponytail.

"Excuse me," said the very tall and imposing looking woman. "I'm looking for Chloe Drasher."

All eyes in the room automatically went to the young injured redhead in the wheelchair. There was a palpable silence in the room as everyone waited to see what this was about. Tentatively, Chloe wheeled herself closer to the tall woman.

"I... I'm Chloe Drasher," she said at last.

"I probably should have guessed, but there were two of you in hospital gowns," remarked the tall woman with a warm smile. "You don't know me, but we spoke on the phone. My name is Gail."

Chloe's eyes went wide and a huge smile filled her face. She was beaming at the recognition of the name. Her arms jutted out, silently imploring the tall woman to come in for a hug.

Gail smiled as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and said, "I called Judge Sullivan like you suggested. I asked her how you were and she said you were still at the hospital. I checked the records to see which hospital you were brought to."

Chloe didn't recognize Holly's business name of Judge Sullivan at first. When it dawned on her who Gail was talking about, she hugged the tall blonde dispatcher even tighter.

"I'm so glad you found me," said Chloe, beaming, "but I need to get out of this room. Would you mind taking a stroll around the Medical/Surgical Unit with me?"

"I'd love to," said Gail with a smile.

"Oh," said Chloe. "I should make introductions. The gorgeous woman in the hospital gown is my fiancé, Jenn. She's only wearing that to cheer me up. The nurse who looks a lot like Jenn is Jenn's sister, Marie. The other nurse, with the lovely décolletage, did not introduce herself to me; nor did the one you passed in the doorway. Everyone, this is Gail. She's the dispatcher who stayed on the line with me until the ambulance arrived."

Gail was greeted warmly by Jenn after that. Jenn excused herself to the bathroom so she could change back into her street clothes. The nurse with the lovely cleavage introduced herself as Amber and excused herself to check up on her other patients. Marie was about to excuse herself to go home but Chloe, sensing this, held Marie's hand and kept her there.

"Please stay with us a little bit longer, Ree," said Chloe. "You're leaving tomorrow and I want to spend some quality time with you before you go." Chloe smiled when Marie nodded in agreement. Chloe turned to Gail and said, "How's Beth doing? Your fiancé's name is Beth, right?"

"Yes," said Gail. "I'm surprised you remembered. She's doing very well. Thank you for asking. Beth's very excited now that we've finally set a date."

"Yes, she is," said Gail with a huge smile. "Thank you so much for her number. She was so nice. There are not enough LGBT-friendly judges in this state."

"Isn't it 'GLBT'?" asked Marie.

"It depends who you ask," said Gail. Gail saw that Marie wasn't trying to be mean. It was obvious she was merely curious, so the tall dispatcher answered the beautiful nurse honestly. "Men are more likely to say 'GLBT' and women generally prefer to say 'LGBT.'"

Jenn emerged from the bathroom and Chloe reached out for a hug. Jenn smiled lovingly as she hugged her betrothed. Jenn pushed Chloe's wheelchair as Chloe held hands with Marie and Gail. The unit's hallways were not quite wide enough for three people to walk abreast, much less two people walking on either side of a wheelchair. Occasionally, Gail needed to step behind Chloe, with Jenn, to avoid med carts, COWs and other assorted items out in the hall. The COWs, or Computers On Wheels, in this unit all had names like Bossy and Daisy so that the nurses could easily identify the COW to which they were assigned. The four ladies did a loop through the unit.

When they came back to Chloe's private room, Marie told the others that she was feeling tired and needed to go home. Chloe hated to see her leave, but she understood. Chloe asked if Marie would stop by the room before leaving for Tarabella. Marie said she honestly wasn't sure. She promised Chloe that if she didn't stop up first, she would call as soon as she arrived in Bridgehampton. Chloe accepted that and hugged Marie goodnight and possibly goodbye. Gail agreed to stay a bit longer. Marie told Gail that it was nice meeting her as they shook hands.

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Dori Lee was twisting the cap off a bottle of beer when she heard the knock on her door. She took two long pulls from the bottle before walking to the door. She did not open it. Dori put her hand on the door and felt the texture.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Midori Lee?" a male voice asked her in return.

Dori bristled at this. NO ONE ever called her "Midori". Everyone knew better. Whoever was on the other side of the door was not a friend. She took a quick sip of her beer for courage.

"Who's asking?" Dori asked in reply. She knew that, in asking that, she gave away that she was Dori Lee.

"Ms. Lee," the voice answered, "This is the police. We just have a few questions for you about an incident that happened near here a few days ago."

Dori was trying to think of any recent incidents. She'd been pretty good lately. It had been a year since she tried to burn anything. She stopped going to bars. She had her beers at home. She'd been good.

"What incident was this?" Dori asked.

"Could you open the door, please, Ms. Lee? It would be easier to talk about this if I didn't have to shout through the door," said the male voice.

Dori searched her conscious carefully before opening the door. She looked at the two detectives. One was a hispanic looking male, obviously the one who'd been speaking to her. The other was a tall Asian-American woman. Dori thought the woman had to be of Korean descent.